Switch Master: 6 (Ink and Kink), page 25
Taran hugged her tightly then let her go into the kitchen. She’d gotten up during dinner to monitor what was baking in the oven, having taken it out to cool off before serving. The scent of spices and apples added to the all-American meal they’d devoured.
Shortly, Samantha returned, setting the pie and some paper plates on the table and taking her seat beside Taran. Pleased that Samantha was comfortable sharing a difficult situation with his brother and sister-in-law, he smiled and served up the final course. It was good, warm and perfect after stew.
Long after they finished eating and the dishes were cleaned and put away, the four of them continued to talk. Taran and Samantha used after-dinner conversation to tell Phalen and Cassie about Luke Walker and his aunt.
Both his brother and sister-in-law thought Taran would be a good role model for a teenage boy. He was glad about that, having always believed Phalen’s influence on his own life when he was growing up had been the reason he strove to do his best in school and athletics.
It’d been Phalen who helped Taran decide which college to go to. As he grew older, it’d been his big brother who drilled it into his head to always respect the girl he was dating and always wear a condom. It’d been Phalen who helped both him and Ethan come to terms with their preference for D/s relationships.
Later that evening, Samantha and Taran waved their company off, took turns in the bathroom, stripped off their clothes and climbed into bed. Pale-blue nightlights strategically placed around the room lit things up enough that he’d not had to keep the bathroom light on.
Promising again that he’d buy nightlights for the brownstone, he turned toward her, taking her into his arms. She came to him as naturally as breathing, her mouth against his reminding him of all that was good and right.
Making love to her, he took his time, savoring the softness of her skin, the taste of her lips and tightness of her sex gripping his cock as he entered on a slow, deep thrust.
A long time afterward, they fell asleep. This time she slept peacefully.
Chapter Thirteen
Considering how suddenly Sam and Taran became a couple, the three weeks that followed were fairly routine and productive. She’d never known a man who could be endearing and dominant, compassionate and strong.
She’d say she was the luckiest woman on the planet to have Taran Maddox as her own. Then again, she’d say Cassie and Morgan Maddox were lucky too. They had Ethan and Phalen, who prided family and friendship more than anything.
Sitting at her desk, trying to ignore the hunger pangs telling her it was lunchtime, she thought over the last few weeks while finishing up some paperwork on a case that she and Ethan closed yesterday.
A teenage girl, upset with her parents over being grounded for shoplifting, ran away, hiding out in her boyfriend’s basement. Thankfully, the boy called the police station, leading them right to the girl. Sam wished every case was that easily solved.
Typing furiously on her keyboard, she smiled to herself when she thought of how she and Taran had spent the previous night. Even as she sat there, she could still feel the telltale signs of fantastic sex, unseen bite marks, tender nipples and complete, utter satisfaction.
It wasn’t just last night’s wicked sex that was off-the-charts amazing, every night was perfect. It wasn’t that they didn’t disagree or work late, they did and they worked things out, carving out time for each other no matter the hour or situation.
While he remained the Dominant, he always placed her before himself, showing her that lovemaking was as essential and sexy as naughty, kinky sex.
Last weekend they attended a day-long munch at Druid Creek Castle. During the session, she’d experimented with whips and floggers for the first time. At first, it’d been awkward since Phalen was the instructor. Once she witnessed his professionalism and his skill, she saw him in a whole new light.
After their first munch, Taran rewarded her by letting her peruse an online catalog of whips and floggers he’d made, telling her to check off whatever caught her eye. She’d done so, saving her favorites, wondering when she’d receive her new toys.
At the end of the weekend, she and Taran made plans to attend the Shibari workshop given by Alex and Ryan next month. As much as she was curious about rope bondage, she knew she needed to learn every facet of it before binding Taran.
On the evenings when she went to the roller rink, Taran worked late at Maddox Ink or preparing for court then he’d take Luke home and stay over at her apartment in Framingham. Luke had started working as soon as his principal gave permission and was allowed to work twenty hours a week.
The other nights of the week, she stayed at the brownstone. She had to admit, she loved his South Boston home. There was no word yet on whether Ethan and Morgan’s bid on the house they’d fallen in love with had been accepted, though they were hopeful.
Between working on missing persons and cold cases, Sam was able to concentrate on investigating Daria Walker. From what she’d found so far, she suspected Luke’s stepmother was involved in an escort service being run by the salon she was working for.
Last Monday night, Taran and Sam took Luke and his aunt to dinner, enjoying the chance to get to know them and admitting that Taran was interested in joining the Big Brothers Big Sisters organization and becoming Luke’s mentor.
Sam had been concerned that Luke would object after his initial distrust of Taran. Instead, he seemed open to the idea, maybe because working with Taran helped ground him. For her part, Glenda believed Luke would benefit from Taran’s guidance.
A few days ago, Taran had learned that Russell Walker’s attempt to appeal had stalled. They didn’t know why as of yet. Additionally, Glenda Davis was served with a hearing notice arguing her right as Luke’s legal guardian. His stepmother Daria Walker was behind this.
As an attorney with membership in Massachusetts Association of Guardians ad Litem, Inc., Taran would remain Luke’s lawyer throughout any court-appointed hearings, but had recommended someone else represent Glenda.
Between the two lawyers, Sam felt confident they would work together to protect Luke Walker’s best interest and his relationship with his aunt.
While Taran was busy dealing with legal matters, Sam made several attempts to contact Mark Cormack without success. The first time she was sent to a prerecorded voicemail message. The next time, she discovered the phone was no longer in service.
Taran then suggested they contact the Cormack patriarch for answers. Sam was a little hesitant. Martin Cormack, Mark’s father, had always made her nervous when she was younger. But his personal assistant informed Taran a family emergency had arisen and it’d be weeks before Martin returned any calls or correspondence.
Concerned, Sam reached out to Mark’s mother, Barbara Cormack. Again, she was unsuccessful so she called her mom, who’d once been Barbara’s housekeeper, to see if Gwen could contact her former employer.
Weirdly, Sam’s mother called earlier to let her know Barbara refused to take her phone calls. It shouldn’t have surprised Sam as much as it did. Her mother had worked for Martin and Barbara Cormack for many years. Why the silence? Then again, if they were dealing with a family emergency it could explain the rejection.
In the meantime, Phalen Maddox investigated Dr. Emilio Solomon, discovering the doctor had not only started the women’s health clinic in Hell’s Kitchen, he’d confirmed that Solomon had been one of the physicians at an exclusive fertility clinic in Manhattan and worked in conjunction with the hospital where she’d been treated.
A month after Sam had been his patient, Dr. Solomon lost his license to practice medicine after numerous malpractice suits were filed against him. According to Phalen, the lawsuits stalled a few years ago because Solomon died.
Taran told her that it wasn’t uncommon for lawsuits to continue, as those filing the suits went after the doctor’s practice or the hospital where they were affiliated. Sam asked if Phalen knew how Dr. Emilio Solomon died. A coroner’s report claimed it’d been a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Phalen was currently trying to locate the nurses, anesthesiologist and staff who’d been in the ER and the OR the day Sam gone into the hospital. Most had retired or moved, two passed away from natural causes, one sadly had Alzheimer’s.
Presently, the whereabouts of the nurse who’d been at both the women’s clinic and the hospital during Sam’s stay were unknown.
Her personal cell phone played Alive by Pearl Jam, breaking Sam’s thought pattern. Reaching for the phone, she already knew who was calling. “Hi, pretty boy.”
“Hi, baby doll, how’s your day?”
“It’s going well. Is there any chance we can meet up for lunch? I’d like to tell you about my conversation with my mom earlier today.”
“Wish we could. That deadbeat dad hearing I told you about was pushed up and I’ve only got a few minutes to grab a bag of potato chips and a soda before going into court.”
“You need more than potato chips, counselor.”
“They’ll do for now. We’ll have a good dinner this evening. Are we still on for Druid Creek Castle tonight?”
She smiled at that. “I thought we settled this in the shower this morning?”
“I was a little preoccupied. My sexy girlfriend was working me over with her incredibly gifted mouth.”
“You have a girlfriend and didn’t tell me?”
“Since you’re my girlfriend, I figured you knew already. I’m calling because I have Alex on hold. He feels bad for not being able to accommodate us overnight the last time we tried to make reservations. I want to make sure you trust me to make arrangements for our stay.”
“Tell Alex not to worry. What arrangements are we talking about?”
“How about a naughty teacher facing discipline by the principal?” he murmured in his trademark Maddox accent.
He was a telephone call away, yet she imagined the taste of his lips and the feel of his skin pressed against hers. She especially remembered the taste of him as she’d sucked him to completion in the shower.
She loved the power of being in a submissive position. She’d been on her knees, his big hands tangled in her wet hair, compelling her to deep throat his cock, but it’d been Taran who’d been left shaking and sputtering and weak-kneed.
“Naughty teacher, huh, do I get to use a ruler on your ass?”
“I’m not the one being naughty. Paddling is more my style. You game for a little sting with your pleasure, Ms. Riley?”
“I can handle anything you dish out, Principal Maddox. Remember naughty teachers bite if paddled too hard.”
“Go ahead, bite me. Be sure to leave your mark. That’s one thing you’ll need to learn, Samantha. When you’re on top, I want your marks to be permanent.”
“Are we talking tattoos or something else? If you want me to cut you or something, you’re out of your mind.”
“Predominantly ink, we’ve talked about piercings,” he said. “I’m game if you are.”
“You like to live dangerously, don’t you? There are many places I could leave an impression, one in particular that’s incredibly big and thick and juicy.”
“Juicy? Damn, Samantha, my dick is not to be tattooed or pierced. The safe word on that is no fucking way.”
“That’s three words, but point taken. Can I nibble?”
“If you draw blood, you’re guaranteed to get more than a paddled ass, get my meaning?”
“Taran! Aren’t you at the courthouse?”
“Yes. Don’t worry, I’m alone.”
“Better be. Don’t leave Alex hanging. Make the arrangements.”
“That’s my girl. I’ll pick you up from work and we’ll swing by the brownstone before heading to Danvers.”
“Can’t wait to see you,” she said, missing him the second the call ended.
“What was that all about?” Ethan asked, returning from the precinct’s small break room.
“What was what about?” she asked, watching her partner sit at his desk across from her, a candy bar in his hand.
“You looked like you were having a serious conversation,” he said, ripping off the wrapper of his candy bar and making her tummy growl.
“It was Taran, Mr. Nosy. What? You got chocolate for yourself and nothing for me?”
“Want half?” He was prepared to share, but she shook her head no.
“I’d better not. I brought a sandwich from home.”
“Boring, where’s your sense of adventure?”
“If you only knew,” she said, thinking of the adventure she was set to partake with Taran later that evening.
“Spill,” Ethan dared.
“Taran and I are spending the evening at Druid Creek Castle.”
Ethan grinned like the devil he could be. “Way to go, little brother.”
“We’re going to dinner.”
“My brother has more in mind than that. Still, I don’t need to hear the details.”
“That’d be weird.”
“Yeah, it would. Guess what? LUDS came back on that phone Mark used to call you. It was a cheap prepaid one, with talk-only minutes. I’m going to see if I can trace the phone to where it’d been sold.”
“Mark probably doesn’t want his wife to know he called me,” Sam said.
“When I was at lunch, Morgan called, insisting we are very close to finding him.”
“Is she feeling all right? No headaches or anything?”
“None, thankfully,” he replied. “She feels bad that she can’t pick up on anything definitive about Sarah or her whereabouts.”
“She shouldn’t feel bad at all. Morgan is amazing.”
“Amazing and brilliant, after all, she agreed to be my wife.”
“Humbleness is not in the Maddox code, is it?”
“Not really. You were talking to your mom when I left. Was she able to reach Barbara Cormack?”
“Barbara refused to take my mother’s calls. Taran tried to contact Martin Cormack the other day and was told he was dealing with a family emergency. When I spoke to Mark on the phone, he sounded awful, said something about the flu, but what if he’s sick? No matter what he’d done in the past, I don’t want anything bad to happen to him or his family.”
“Detective Riley, the mailman dropped this off at the front desk downstairs,” Officer Barnes announced, striding across the room to hand her a manila envelope.
“Thanks,” she said, taking the envelope and seeing it was tagged with handle-with-care in red pen.
Opening the envelope and carefully pulling out the contents, she blinked several times. It was old photographs of her mother and Mark’s father…Martin Cormack.
Martin was obviously older than her mom by a couple of years, but the love and happiness captured in the black-and-white photos said everything. To see her mom looking so alive and radiant was shocking, to see her with Martin made her stomach sour.
“Wow, Ethan, look at these photos of my mom and Martin Cormack.” She handed them over. He scanned the photos, his clever eyes stopping on one, looking up at Sam, then back at the picture.
“There’s no doubt that you take after your mother, Sam,” Ethan said, going through each of the photos again. “She was a real beauty.”
“Thank you, she still is, though she’s grayer these days. You know, I always felt I was responsible for her stress growing up. Maybe I was wrong and it came from heartbreak.”
“These photographs were taken on an old camera. They may have been developed in someone’s photo lab. There’s no stamp or date on the back. Is there anything else in the envelope?”
Sam dumped it, finding nothing. “No.”
Ethan took the envelope, inspecting it. “This was sent from Mark Cormack, with a Plymouth address.”
“Last I heard, Mark and his wife and children lived on Martha’s Vineyard. He certainly could’ve moved. This is weird, Ethan. All this time, I never connected Martin with my mother.”
“What are your earliest memories of him?”
“Sketchy, my mom didn’t go to work for him and Barbara until we moved from Provincetown to Falmouth when I was in the sixth grade. At the time, she took a boat to their home on Martha’s Vineyard when I was at school.”
“Anything else you can recall?”
“The summer before my senior year of high school, my mother and I were invited to the Cormack compound and she became their live-in housekeeper. That’s when I met Mark. Barbara treated me as if I was a parasite. Martin kept his distance, making me feel as if I were walking on eggshells. Ethan? What if Mark’s my…”
Unable to finish her thoughts, Sam felt bile rise in her stomach. Fighting the nausea, she shoved the photos away, shot out of her chair and raced to the nearest ladies room.
“Sam, open the door,” Ethan demanded, pounding on the door she’d instinctively locked on her way in.
“I think the flu’s gotten to me,” she called back, her voice hoarse.
“You can’t lie to your partner.”
Partner always came out pahtnah, just as it would if Taran or Phalen were speaking to her. Their Southie-born-and-raised accents were ingrained in them, endearing, but right then all Sam could think of was Martin and her mother, together, which meant…
Sam splashed her face with cold water, praying she was wrong, praying she didn’t get sick. She couldn’t have had sex with her half-brother!
“If you won’t talk to me, go and talk to Taran. He’s the one you should be turning to right now.”
Splashing more water on her face, she felt calm enough to leave. Opening the bathroom door, she wasn’t surprised to see Ethan standing right there across the hall, back braced to the wall, arms crossed.
“Hi, partner. You okay?” he asked.
“I need to go, Ethan.”
“Okay. I’ll tell the captain you’re feeling sick.”
“Thank you.” She went over to her desk, gathered her things, including the photos, and her favorite leather coat from the back of her chair. “Taran’s in court right now. Tell him I’ll take a rain check for tonight.”
“Sam, don’t you dare go back into hiding because of some old photos.”
